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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Songs For The Road: Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun
When I first saw this video I was inspired to capture color with my camera and use it to define an experience. That essentially became the inspiration behind my color strategy for my Little Corn Island video piece. In fact my entire journey to Nicaragua was very much like being in a dreamlike state and finding myself on a very colorful island influenced that feeling significantly. I also feel that some of the lyrics touch on how my closest friends and I feel about traveling/life in general:

We are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me

Empire of the Sun is made up of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore - both Australian. This video was shot in Shanghai; the song is Walking on a Dream from their album of the same name. Enjoy!


Empire Of Sun - Walking On A Dream from Music on Vimeo.



1. "Standing on the Shore" - 4:23
2. "Walking on a Dream" - 3:16
3. "Half Mast" - 3:54
4. "We Are the People" - 4:27
5. "Delta Bay" - 3:12
6. "Country" - 5:04
7. "The World" - 4:36
8. "Swordfish Hotkiss Night" - 3:55
9. "Tiger by My Side" - 5:47
10. "Without You" - 5:00
Written at 10:00 AM by Sebastien.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Weekly Travel A La G-Maps: The Borobodur, Indonesia
In this week's edition of 'Weekly Travel A La G-Maps' we will be focusing on the Borobodur in Indonesia. Unfortunately the street view function was not available but the sheer size of the Buddhist monument is such that you can see a significant amount of detail given the height at which the shot was taken. The second image is of the monument form the ground and the third is of its famous stupas.


The Borobodur
Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia

Built as a shrine to the Lord Buddha in the nineteenth century, the Borobodur is made up of six square platforms and finished off with three circular platforms. The monument boasts 504 Buddha statues, 2,672 panels with relief work and a main dome atop the center platform circled by 72 Buddha statues seated within perforated stupas.


Some Buddhist followers come here to go on a pilgrimage beginning their journey at the base of the Borobodur ascending to the top in a circular path. They pass through three levels of Buddhist cosmology; Kāmadhātu the realm of desire, Rupadhatu the realm of forms and Arupadhatu the realm of formlessness.






















While living in Jakarta I visited the Borobodur and I remembered a small legend told to me by a visiting monk while admiring a seated Buddha in a stupa. He said that if I could reach inside and touch the Buddha's hand I would be granted one wish.
Written at 11:37 AM by Sebastien.
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
OpenID Is the Bridge


It is amazing how last night I find myself writing about Hyatt's new HyattConcierge initiative and how I felt that Web 2.0 initiatives should not be based on a single Web 2.0 platform such as Twitter (read about that here). Now in a few moments Facebook will become the biggest example of a social network site that lets users log-in using OpenID. So what does that mean exactly?

Well, OpenID has been around for a while now and essentially it allows you to use the same login info for multiple relying parties. The issue was that no one was really partnering up with anyone rendering the OpenID a not as universally usable until now. Facebook's community is so huge that sites who do not want to partner up with Facebook would be loosing out on a HUGE opportunity.

Wait wait Sebastien, I thought you were a travel blogger man!?!? Well, I am and this is where it all comes together. Imagine being a hotel and you have a Facebook page. You have say 100 fans in addition to your 100 Twitter followers (who happen to not be the same 100 fans on Facebook) and today Facebook decides to incorporate OpenID. Twitter wants to keep up so they too incorporate OpenID with Facebook as a partner.

Amongst other things, having the OpenID would allow your 100 Facebook fans to become Twitter followers and vice versa. As a hotel you think OpenID is FANTASTIC so you decide to incorporate it for yourself. One of the most amazing things about it is the fact that your 100 fans can now directly log into their online account at say Hyatt.com (for example), make a reservation AND potentially tell their friends about the reservation they made through Facebook AND invite them to join in on a great vacation at the Hyatt!

Essentially this is huge news for hotels trying to reach out to a larger client base to monetize their Web 2.0 initiatives.
Written at 11:15 AM by Sebastien.
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Hyatt's New Twitter Initiative
HyattConcierge, "the first global, 24/7 dedicated concierge service on Twitter" - according to Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian, launched yesterday. Mr. Hoplamazian says
"...through HyattConcierge, our skilled guest service professionals will be able to respond to guests’ questions, needs and concerns, any time, any place, and by any digital means on Twitter - before, during and after their hotel stays."


According to a press release the top 5 ways to use HyattConcierge is as follows:

1. Driving directions
2. Assistance with hotel reservations and Hyatt Gold Passport account information
3. Book dining reservations and spa treatments
4. Request late arrival/checkout
5. Arrange transportation

Personally, I think the push hotels are making for more presence on Twitter and to utilize it more effectively is fantastic although the idea that simply utilizing one Web 2.0 platform, I feel, is an approach that does not maximize the initial back end investment.

How so? Twitter, like most Web 2.0 platforms are free!!

Well yeah, obviously but what happens when you have 65,000 followers and 10% of them asked for driving directions? 6,500 requests for driving directions handled by who? What about promotions? Who is going to update the booking engines with the appropriate promo codes? One could argue that once you give driving directions to one person you can begin to archive those responses and re-use them - well, doesn't that defeat the purpose of Web 2.0? Where is the highly valued 'personal' interaction that us web junkies crave?

So the costs add up eventually but this is where expanding onto multiple Web 2.0 platforms becomes more effective vis-à-vis reach. The same Twitter team could potentially handle the Facebook page that offers the same service as Twitter spreading out the costs and increasing followers and fans. Imagine that!

So does that mean we can start talking about calculating Cost Per Follower or Revenue Per Follower? That would be interesting. Obviously all the benefits are yet to be fully measured (and will they ever be?), but I do believe that Twitter and other Web 2.0 platforms can be profitable for hotels. Take MarriottIntl on Twitter for example. Marriott is a huge brand name across the globe, it has over 7,000 followers (they can do better than that) but lets assume they can get 50,000 followers. If they time seasonality and booking windows properly for different properties and push property-specific promotions through Twitter and Facebook I believe they would be able to see their Web 2.0 revenue stream begin to flow. In fact I believe they have already begun to do so.



If you want to get technical: An ideal way to use Twitter as a capture tool is to tweet promotions links (with tracking/src codes) and have the link direct to a landing page specific to a property with great copy, sweet images, a list of cool things to do on the property, a description of the promotion and of course a reservations button that links to the booking engine where the property can choose to incorporate dynamic reservations (ie. add the Spa package for only an additional $20 a night). If you want to get REALLY aggressive you might as well tweet a link that takes the user straight to the booking engine.

Overall I don't think hotels have really attempted a truly aggressive capture strategy but I think the time will come soon - HyattConcierge and MarriottIntl are signs of those things to come. Some hotels have asked me what my position is and how to make their Twitter initiatives effective and to answer that I ask these questions first:

1. Is your Twitter initiative an auxilliary service (much like HyattConcierge is offering - driving directions, etc) intended for existing (booked) clients or to capture new ones?

2. If so, how many Twitter users out there are already booked customers?

3. Of those people how many can you get to use your Twitter service?

Until those questions are answered I do not think the solution to effectiveness can be solved. At the end of the day I believe that by expanding from a Twitter based approach to an integrated multi-platform approach and internally re-brand said Twitter servce as more comprehensive Web 2.0 initiative a hotel can better measure effectiveness in the right light.
Written at 10:00 AM by Sebastien.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Songs For The Road: Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha in Chicago
Traveling without music is hard for me to imagine. As much as I find comfort in the sound of rail tracks or pressurized air on an airplane, I prefer a good playlist. That being said I thought it would be interesting to occasionally post a song(s) that I associate with a place(s).

Last fall Rob Zuehlke of Blank Slate introduced me to Andrew Bird's music - which I took an immediate liking to. First off let me say that the Zuehlke brothers (Eric and Rob) are total audiophiles and you should all check out Blank Slate and One / One Thousand (Eric & Anouche Zuehlke's site) for some great song and album reviews.

Anyway - a couple of months after being introduced to Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha album, I ended up on a flight to Chicago and this album essentially became my playlist. It was perfect for a very laid back, urban getaway in Chicago and even though I didn't listen to any music while I explored the city, I definitely had the opening riff to Heretics on loop in my head - especially while in Wicker Park.

Here is Plasticities by Andrew Bird. This particular video was shot on Sydney Harbor but try to imagine a bird's eye view of Chicago streets shot a la stop motion photography. Here is a link to the original song. Oh and btw - Andrew Bird is from Chicago.

Andrew Bird: Plasticities from shoottheplayer.com on Vimeo.



  1. "Fiery Crash" – 4:12
  2. "Imitosis" – 4:01
  3. "Plasticities" – 4:27
  4. "Heretics" – 3:33
  5. "Armchairs" – 7:02
  6. "Darkmatter" – 5:07
  7. "Simple X" – 3:36
  8. "The Supine" – 0:59
  9. "Cataracts" – 3:12
  10. "Scythian Empires" – 4:34
  11. "Spare-Ohs" – 4:07
  12. "Yawny at the Apocalypse" – 3:39




First image courtesy of Tara Kocourek
Written at 12:10 PM by Sebastien.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Weekly Travel A La G-Maps: The Eiffel Tower, Paris
If anyone out there is like me - constantly daydreaming about traveling or perhaps researching cool potential vacation spots around the world - then this is perfect for you. Announcing


WEEKLY TRAVELS A La G-MAPS
A chance to see some of the world's wonders from your computer screen.


I decided to find some cool spots around the world via Google Maps and post the pics here. This week I will be highlighting one of Paris' major landmarks; the Eiffel Tower. If you have some pretty cool shots of the Eiffel Tower (a la Google Maps) send them over to me and I'll include your image in this post with your name and website url if you have one.


The Eiffel Tower - Tour Eiffel, /tuʀ ɛfɛl/
Champ de Mars, Paris, France

Built in 1889, the Eiffel Tower has received hundreds of thousands of visitors since making it the world's most visited paid monument.

The structure itself is 984ft (300m) high but with the addition of its antenna, it reaches a total of 1,63ft (324m). The tower was built by Gustave Eiffel for presentation at the Paris World's Fair. It was originally meant to be built in Barcelona but city hall thought it was a bit too odd and expensive so they passed. Interesting given the fact that the Eiffel tower is a defining symbol of Paris and perhaps France itself.


Written at 4:25 PM by Sebastien.
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